Walking with Dinosaurs

If you haven't heard of this show, look it up online. It's a thing that BBC put together. There was a paleontologist that narrated the show and the progression of the earth from the beginning of time through the evolution of the different types of dinosaurs. Then there were huge dinosaurs that came out... life-sized dinosaur puppets! All of the large ones looked as though they were walking, but were actually controlled by a motorized small car-like base. Then (not that you would know by looking at them) they were all controlled by hand. Some of the larger ones had up to 3 people inside controlling the dinosaurs' movement. It was amazing to watch these giant things moving around the stadium looking as real as they possibly could. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy!

Long Due Updates!

Labor Day & Boscoe!

Dan and I both got a long weekend for the Labor Day holiday, so we took the chance to drive down to North Carolina and visit Dirk & Erin and the kids.... AND BOSCOE!!! He recognized Dan right away and wouldn't leave his side, but it took him about 20 mins to remember me. He definitely got his fair share of belly rubs for the next couple of days.

We took him (and Molly...their Great Dane/Boxer mix) on a walk on Saturday morning, and even though we only went about 1-1.5 miles, they were pooped for the rest of the day. We let Molly off the leash so she could gallop around, but Boscoe had to stay on the leash...lest his nose take him on some trail that led to a mud puddle.

We had a great weekend of food, family, Boscoe, and college football (luckily for anyone of Hayden blood, Notre Dame won). The kids are as crazy as ever, and loved showing us the new things they learn how to do... for Jackie it was mostly ballet moves, for PJ it was that he can type his name on the computer (I think it's spelled jawjoenbeuaiooqnbv), and for Diana it was that she can smile for pictures. Fun times!

Arlington

(Written by Dan) On August 30th (the day after Sen. Kennedy was buried) we went to Arlington and visited his gravesite which is 100 ft from his brother Bobby which is 100 ft from their brother Jack. The line was about 100 people long when we got there so we decided not to wait in the sun (not a cloud in the
sky...so much for Tropical Storm Danny, bwah ha ha ha ha...) although I did inadvertently cut everyone in line and went in the exit side without realizing it and then ran when I figured out what I had done. I felt really bad because I have a great disdain for people who can't follow simple rules. Anyway, we went backwards and went to RFK & JFK's graves as well. Lot of flowers at all three.Then we wandered around getting lost in the cemetery and eventually stumbled upon Secretary Marshall's gravesite as well. Okay...truth being told, we were actually looking for it but the sections of Arlington make about as much sense as the streets of Boston so we really thought it was a lost cause until we stumbled upon it. George C. Marshall, if you don't know, was the architect of WWII while the Chief of Staff of the Army and later served as the Secretary of State, President of the American Red Cross, and finally as the Secretary of Defense. He was also a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Sorry for the history lesson but I'm in the middle of reading his four part biography so I'm naturally becoming a big admirer.

Other Than That

Other than that we haven't done a whole lot. We were told about the brunch at the Officer's Club at Ft. Belvoir, and it has become our favorite post-Church thing to do on Sundays. One day after church we went to Ft. Belvoir for the brunch and then drove over to Mt. Vernon and walked around George Washington's home. It was hot/humid that day, so we didn't stay very long, but it is still amazing to see.

Dan and I are both planning to run the Army Ten Miler race on October 4th, so we've been doing a lot of running together to train for that. We've been able to get together all but one of the weekends since I've been out here, so that's a blessing. In the next month Dan will be taking trips to France, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, and Qatar, so keep his travels in your prayers, and we'll be updating lots more! :)

A nice couple of weekends

This weekend was a pretty good time. On Friday night Dan and I went with a bunch of people from his work to a Nationals baseball game. It was a pretty good time. Dan and I went to his work that evening, met up with the others, and then took the metro over to the game. We all sat in a section behind left field. We didn't catch any of the home runs, but we did get drenched when the thunderstorm coming through town decided to go directly over the stadium.

On Saturday we woke up early and had breakfast out and then ran some errands. Later that afternoon we went over to some friends house to cook some brats and watch the Red Sox game (I'm so glad they won 14-1 and everyone was in a good mood!). We stayed and played pop culture Trivial Pursuit. Dan won... can't say so much for myself in that I don't know anything about anyone who plays baseball, and I don't watch a whole lot of TV, and I just listen to the music on the radio...I don't know/care who sings it or when. But all in all a good time.

Today we went to church and then went over to Ft. Belvoir's Officer's Club to get brunch. We were told that they have an AMAZING buffet. That is indeed correct! It was amazing. I had a plate of breakfast and a plate of lunch and Dan had two plates of breakfast. We'd recommend that to anyone! I think we'll have to re-look our budget and work in Sunday morning buffets. :) After breakfast we went over to Mount Vernon and walked around till we were good and hot (got really humid). Sorry I don't have any pictures, but it was a spur of the moment trip and we didn't have a camera.

So, great weekend, and tons of fun!

Last weekend Dan and I drove out to Gatlinburg, TN to meet up with the rest of his family to celebrate his parent's 40th wedding anniversary. We were there only for a short time, but we spent that Saturday with the family (all 18 of us!!!) eating, walking, and going to a magic show. The magic show was pretty entertaining and the BBQ place we went that night had the best sausage (I wanted to order some for desert, but Dan said no). We were glad we were able to go out there and see everyone. Yay for Dan's parents and 40 short years!

Our life together on the east coast!

(I didn't take that photo...google did) :)

The first weekend I was out here was 4th of July weekend. We spent the first day going all around D.C. with Erin and Dirk and a couple other friends. It was a great day of foodaboozapalooza. :) The next day we ended up going to watch the fireworks over the Mall. The four of us found a nice spot on a hill by the Air Force Memorial which is up on a hill so that we could see the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, and the Pentagon. We all concurred that the best thing about the firework show was that we saw no less than 15 different firework shows all along the horizon... in addition to the huge show right in front of us. It was a great evening.


I then moved down to Charlottesville and started my job at the Intelligence Center. It's been a slow start, but it will be a good job for the next year.


Our first weekend (living in the same state) I went up to visit Dan. We had dinner in the city and then walked over to the Capital building where the Army band was doing a concert. It was a fun evening, sitting on the steps of the Capital and listening to great music. This last weekend Dan came down to visit me. We went to the Michie Tavern (est 1789) and to Monticello. We didn't end up getting to the actual house because tickets were out, but we'll go back sometime.

It's worked out pretty well so far. It's not very fun not living together, but we're just glad to be in the same state for now.


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Wedding Photos!

We got some digital pictures from our wedding. Check out the following links to see over 400 pictures. Looks like we had a fun time... oh wait, that's cuz we did! Enjoy!



Wedding pictures on snapfish.com
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1675576014/a=125335466_125335466/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

We're Married!!!

So exactly two weeks ago today Dan and I got married!!! Woo-hoo!!! It was a great ceremony in Redlands, CA. The weather was beautiful... which is a great thing since both the ceremony and reception were outdoors.

We had so much fun standing up front with all our friends and family. Dan's groomsmen were his brother Mike, bro-in-law Dirk, and my brothers Tim and Mike. My bridesmaids were my bestfriends Christine and Vicky, Dan's sister Erin, and my sis-in-laws Stefanie and Kallie. It was the greatest team ever! :) We even had Dan's niece Jackie as our flower girl and Dan's nephew P.J. and my nephew Jack as the ring bearers.

Our reception was a blast! In-n-out catered the wedding, so the main course was cheeseburgers and double-doubles! It was one of the best ideas we ever had. I don't know that there was anyone who did not love the fact that the In-n-out trailer was there.

Our wedding cake was also absolutely amazing. We got this little German bakery to make it, and it was the best tasting cake... EVER! It didn't hurt that it also looked pretty cute too!

We had a sabre arch, fun music, dancing, and personalized Nalgene bottles as the favors. So I guess you could say it was a great wedding. Tons of fun for all. We'll make sure to post more pictures once we get the professional ones back from the photographer... so stay tuned.

Our Honeymoon!

The day after our wedding Dan and I left to start our honeymoon out in the Dominican Republic. We went to an all inclusive resort and had a great time. The travels to and from there were pretty miserable (delayed baggage, long layovers, delayed flights, missed connections), but the resort part of the honeymoon was wonderful.

Our daily schedule was pretty stressful. We would sleep in and then go hang out at the beach, then eventually move over to the pool, go get lunch, come back to the pool, go eat dinner, and then go to bed early. I guess you could say we had to suffer though a whole week that way. ;)

The resort was beautiful! The Caribbean ocean is everything it's cracked up to be. The water was so clear and comfortable (in temperature). We tried snorkeling one day, but the water was a little too rough. We took a horseback ride down to a lagoon one day. Then our last night we had a private dinner on the beach. We were definitely glad for the time off together.

COMING SOON!